Moving the Kidult to the House of the Mouse

[Katie]

The Kidult (formerly Miss Katie and the Teen) had sworn us to secrecy - well, online - and now we can spill the beans, so I can start this TR.

When the Kidult and I were at Disneyworld (Florida, USA) in 2024, we met a young man from Brisbane, working for Disney, on some kind of college exchange program. He tells the Kidult she should do it too.
Then, in January 2026, the Kidult sees that applications are open for the Disney International Exchange AU/NZ program. She can't contain her excitement, and her application to work at Disneyworld in this program is submitted within a day of the applications opening. The International Exchange program is an international variant of the Disney College Program, where college/uni students spend a semester or two working for Disney.
For Aussies, it comes under a J1 visa, they're allowed to work, and continuing Uni study during the program is really up to the student and the remote learning access for their uni. Each month of the program, they must submit a report about cultural activities they've undertaken - that can't be going to a theme park. Options might include visiting the nearest Buc-ees, going to a baseball game, and so on (to the Kidult's horror, I've suggested a few times that attending a very American church service could be cultural experience). There's accommodation available near Disney, which they need to pay for, and the participants are meant to have a minimum of 30hrs/week work and are currently paid USD 18/hr.

After submitting the application, it was maybe 2 months of anxious waiting before hearing anything back from Disney. Then - success! She was in for an interview in late April. The Disney recruiters were on a tour of Aus and NZ, and interviews were in most AU capital cities and one or two NZ big cities I think. The interview went well, she bonded with the interviewer over a love of specific Disney characters - how many job interviews are you asked about your favourite Disney characters and it's not some weird psychological assessment of you??
The recruiters also held an information session to discuss visa application, accommodation, the "Disney look", working at Disney and all of that information to help them make an an informed decision about their application. The applicants also get to nominate three roles they're interested in - such as Photographer, Ride attendant, Custodial, Character assistant, Food and beverage service, Hotel concierge. I think Disney still reserves the right to put them anywhere they need them, though.
Disneyworld has 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, and something like 30 hotels where staff may work.

In May she received an offer for a position! Do you think she waited to accept??!!

Her DS2019 paperwork (needed to be able to make the booking for the J1 visa appointment at a US Consulate in SYD, MEL or PER) finally came through in June. She then spent hours online on a Friday night entering information and waiting in an online queue to book her visa appointment at the US consulate in SYD. She got through, and the first visa appointment was for 11 August - and her start date was meant to be 17 August!! Luckily I'd researched and knew there was an expedite process for J1 visa applications. She submitted the expedite application that night, and over the weekend approval came through for an earlier appointment in July. To keep her costs down, I got her CR flights to/from Sydney. The consulate is in an easy spot to get to from the airport on the train, even if you stop at Kinokuniya or Haigh's on the way.

The passport and J1 visa came back in the week of 3 August. Eek! Felt very fine timing; the application sat at Approved for about 10 days before it became Issued. Really stressful time in our household. Even Disney recruiters were emailing her asking if her visa had come through yet ...

 

[kookaburra75]

So one question, will you be carrying her bags to get there?
It sounds like a heap of fun.

 

[Katie]

So one question, will you be carrying her bags to get there?
It sounds like a heap of fun.

How can it be a trip report without a bit of tripping??

 

[Katie]

So, in the lead up to the potential trip this year, we've been trying to get the Kidult to adult more - cooking dinner, etc. She's good at laundry, which is a start. I completely failed in helping her with cleaning tasks.
She tells me she knows, oh, except how to clean a bathroom. Hopefully she thinks to search Youtube ...

There were many comments about "we just don't want you to be the worst housemate in the campus!".

The campus accommodation has a few apartment configurations; I think all involve sharing a bathroom with one other person, but could be wrong. The most requested is where you get your own bedroom, and that costs about $275/week. The cheapest is where you share a bedroom and a bathroom with one other person, and the overall apartment with 3 other people (2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, 2 people share each with a lounge and kitchen) for about $240/week. You put in a request and you get what you get.
Wifi and utilities are included in the rent, the participants are responsible for all meals. At the campuses, there's gyms, pools, beach volleyball, and training rooms for the various training classes and sessions with guest visitors - John Stamos and Jodi Sweeten visited the other week and gave a talk. It's run by an external company, but only Disney college students, culinary interns and other interns can live there. It's a gated campus, and even parents can't get in without their child meeting them and escorting them into the campus. From a parent's perspective, that's reassuring.
There's a small mall area nearby, with Starbucks, a baby Target, Walgreens, some restaurants and some hotels.

Even though it would be the standard recommendation, I couldn't wait until the Kidult got her visa to book flights. In early June, when we knew she had the offer, I booked Mr Katie and my flights on separate QF vouchers, managing to book BNE-SYD-DFW-MCO-MIA-LAX-SYD-BNE on the voucher site. There were booking issues that IIRC I had to follow up with the call centre.

I got a CR released for the Kidult, so it didn't eat into her savings to pay for a Y flight. Mum and Dad are determined to have her build more independence, so paying for the flights, visas, courier, etc, etc, etc, was all up to her. That reminds me, she owes me points for the CR ...

We were all booked in Premium Economy for the big flight(s).

Some stress when QF cancelled our BNE-SYD flight, urrgghh, flying on a Saturday. They put us on a later flight, arriving into SYD at 11:00 to connect with QF7 departing at 12:00. Uh, no thank you.
The first call centre agent I got was able to move Mr Katie and my flights to an earlier one, but not the Kidult's as "it's a reward booking". That was pending for a while until some AFF friends sagely advised that QF made the change and it's up to them to rebook on a flight suitable to us, award booking or not. We got the Kidult onto the same flight when I got an amazing call centre agent, who said she'd send feedback to the first agent about rearranging cancelled flights.

I got a bit of practice assuring QF that I had my spouse and the Kidult's permission to act on their bookings on their behalf. The amazing call centre agent was able to link our 3 bookings, which helped with seat selection.

 

[ellen10]

Sounds like a great adventure and a wonderful experience for your Kidult.

 

[Flyfrequently]

What a wonderful adventure for your Kidult @Katie
Your heart must be bursting with (a bit of apprehension) pride

 

[Seat0B]

How exciting for her! And exciting-scary for you @Katie. The US work culture may be a bit of a shock to her if she has any Aussie work experience. This will be something that is very formative for the course of her life - lessons in adulting, lessons you learn when you get what you want really badly, time to appreciate the comforts of home, love of family and Australia, time to feel homesick and realise you won’t die of it, time to spread her wings.
And still, I’m glad I’m not doing Kidult again myself!!!

 

[Pushka]

So, which characters does the Kidult like the most?
This sounds like a fabulous experience - for all!

 

[Katie]

So, which characters does the Kidult like the most?
This sounds like a fabulous experience - for all!

The muppets are up there. We were at the Hollywood Studios park in 2024 on the day they announced the Muppets area was to be closed and turned into a Monsters, Inc area. We tried to focus on the other news that the Rock'n'Roller Coaster was being rethemed from Aerosmith to the Muppets as part of the changes. And now she's ridden that ride at least 5 times since getting over there!

 

[Katie]

A curiosity in the leadup to the trip was that for our MCO-MIA-LAX legs on AA, I was able to select Main Cabin Extra seats for free, but Mr Katie was not. We were both on QF Y+ tickets, and in the past year or so, I've been able to select the MCE seats on AA without extra charge. This used to be a perk for OWE, but AA only offer it to their Emerald members and it's explicitly not a perk for QF WPs flying AA in Y. I think because we're actually on Y+ tickets, it was allowed, but it was strange that it was free for me, but showing a cost for Mr Katie.
This seat selection was through the AA app, as the seat selection offerings in the QF app/site for AA flights is abysmal, much further back than you can manage yourself directly with AA IMNSHO.

Main Cabin Extra was an option for the two of us for DFW-MCO, but we chose to just have the three of us sit in row 13 instead - a bit tight to pay for seat selection for the Kidult. Of all the places not to spend the money!

A week or so before our flights, I happened to check Mr Katie's booking and noticed his seat selections for the AA flights were all gone. We'd even used Amex points to pay for his seat selection for MIA-LAX. I went back into the AA app, and was able to select seats in MCE for him for free. No idea what changed since we'd first booked!

Dinner's ready, need to pause here.

 

[VPS]

What a great experience for her

 

[Katie]

Departure day
QF507 BNE-SYD dep 735 arr 915
As we were on separate bookings, I wanted to arrive at the airport at about 600 to ensure our checkin went well. For 3 of us, we had 5 bags to check in - 3 belonged to the Kidult. We had loaded up on some toiletries (brands only available here), and she'd also been asked by a friend to take a heap of Disney pins to the US to post or deliver in person, so that probably helped to bulk out her luggage a bit. She dealt with the packing, so I really have no idea what she packed. Only two pair of shoes, I know that!
At this stage, she's due to come back in January, but she plans to request an extension for the full year when that option opens up this month or next.

I pre-ordered an UberXL, as the cruise line car service we'd used last year no longer seems to be operating. That worked well for all of our luggage, and we arrived at the airport just after my MIL and SIL, and the other SIL and nephews met us as we were walking to checkin - and helped us with bags.
Checkin was fine, through security and we went to the gate as we couldn't guest the non-flying family into the lounge. Lots of chats, and I also caught up with 2 friends who were heading to Peru to hike and maybe do some kind of volunteering for a few weeks.

Anticipating a temperature difference as we travel:


While our bookings had been connected, the Kidult ended up in a window seat a few rows behind us. Not a big deal for a short flight. I accidentally got myself settled in the C seat, but I was actually in the F seat. Hurriedly moved myself. Chockers flight, so no hope of a WP shadow between Mr Katie and me.

I can see our bags being loaded


Trying to spot the homes of the ILs on the southside


I partook of the inflight brekky offering, even though I knew better things were to come.


As usual, searingly hot and hard to touch for a few minutes until the air con cools it down.


Soon enough, we landed and scarpered to the transfer bus. The additional US security screening seems to be gone? No-one to interrogate us and add a sticker to our passports at the gate. Our friends didn't make the same bus, so we texted and said our Bon Voyages.

Security was fairly quick, even with no priority as we were all in Y+ at that stage. The Kidult had their sunflower lanyard on, so we were sent to the end, which for her is honestly unnecessary as it seemed to take longer to go through than the regular lines, but it's good to see sunflower lanyards recognised. Not much wandering of the terminal, we were up to the FLounge.

I guess because it's so well documented, I didn't bother to take photos of the full menu, but I took a pic of the juice offerings??


My BFF joined us for some morning bevvies.


Added a juice - oops, more bevvies than hands.


I had a pork something something omelette, which was yummy.


We later moved to near the library to sit for a bit before making our way to gate 8/9 to board QF7. About 15 mins before boarding, I checked my BP in the app and saw an awkward message. I had been upgraded. I got Mr Katie to check his app ... no ugrade for him. Oops. Maybe I should have changed my name when we married. So, Mr Katie and the Kidult were in 33J and 33K, while I was in 17E. So far, we're still married.

QF8 SYD-DFW dep 1200 arr 1230
We departed late, arrived late, but only 20-45 mins IIRC.

Lunch after departure, entree was the chicken skewers

For main, I had the beef, which is very nice in J IMNSHO.


Then a cheesecake for dessert and off to sleep.


Breakfast
I barely ate any as I was feeling nauseous.


Getting close to DFW


We split up for immigration; I went to Global Entry and the other two went to regular processing. The US immigration agent was no happy the AU border control had removed the Kidult's DS 2019 form from her passport. The consulate had stapled it in, and stapling it while folded also made it hard to read ... anyway, we all made it through to the absolute cluster f*&k of luggage carousels at DFW.

The airport had put 2-3 arriving flights on the same carousel. Then part way through, they put QF7 on another carousel. I had at least 3 bags before the other 2 arrived. We finally had 4 bags, but couldn't find the fifth. The Kidult found it to the side of the first carousel.

Luggage drop, through security upstairs, glad to not have to remove shoes. I took one for the team and stayed with my jet lagged family rather than go to the next TSA check that had Pre-Check.
We popped into the Flagship lounge, changed into shorts from jeans, and then made our way to Terminal something else for our flight to MCO.

AA2791 DFW-MCO dep 1631 arr 2020

For this flight, we were together in 13 ABC. Typical AA economy flight.


Bye DFW


Hello Florida


Landing in MCO

 

[Katie]

We arrived at MCO, made our way to the train, and the Kidult couldn't help but stop at the Disney store before we went to get our bags. We talked her out of some kind of merch, assuring her we'd get it on the way home if we couldn't find it at Disney Springs or any of the parks.

On the escalator down to the luggage carousels ... there was a Disney ad behind me, but I took too long to take a selfie.


Luggage was again a schemozzle, with last minute change of carousel and multiple flights on the same carousel.

Down to the rental car area, we'd booked an SUV "like" a Chevy Equinox through Autoslash - and got a Chevy Equinox. After checking Google maps driving times while we waited, we picked up a toll tag from the vending machine as it would cut our driving time by 20mins. Worth it. We were in the car by 9:30 and this time, Mr Katie was driving. He hasn't lived in the US for over 25 years, but I wanted to see if my motion sickness could handle his driving when it's not in a sports car.

We drove into the Disney bubble just after 10pm, and got out of the bubble soon thereafter.



I checked us in to the Homewood Suites, where we had a 1 bedroom suite with 2 Queen beds. Our room had a great view over the port cochere.
I forgot to take any photos after we arrived, as the Kidult and I dumped our bags inside while Mr Katie parked the car. Parking is usually an additional USD 20/night, but we'd booked through a DCP parent site that offered free parking using their link.

By 10:30pm, we were at the mini Target in Flamingo Crossings Town Center (it's about the size of a regular CVS, very small for a Target, but still offered groceries, clothing, toiletries, etc). We grabbed some essentials, which didn't include these shirts.



and also didn't include this cheap, gluten-free vodka


We walked to Five Guys for dinner, as most of the other restaurants were closed. I hadn't fully explained Five Guys to Mr Katie, and had to tell him he needed to specify what fixings he wanted on his burger, otherwise it would just be meat and bun.



There was a group of cast members from one of the parks all having burgers together; as it's close to the DCP*/intern accommodation, I figured they all lived where the Kidult would be moving into on Monday.
*DCP = Disney College Program, and the participants can also be referred to as CPs. US/Canadian participants have their Uni on their name badge, but the International Participants have their home city and country, like regular cast members. Well, country instead of state.

While the hotel didn't have the bus perks of a Disney hotel, there were a couple of options available:



We were all knackered, so went to sleep around midnight.
As I'd had a more comfortable transpac flight, I didn't sleep as solidly as the other two, so I was searching options for our shopping later that day at 3am. I wasn't sure if Target or Walmart would have better options. My googling suggested Walmart might have more in-store stock than the local big Target for what we needed to buy - sheets, towels, laundry basket, etc.

Sunday
View from our room - and plenty of space for more shops and restaurants in this shopping area.


The free brekky was fine, if you're not GF and prefer omelettes made to order. :/
Plenty of families in this hotel!

We made our way to Walmart, where we saw the same red Mickey/Minnie family shirts as we'd seen in Target the night before. Walmart was overwhelming, heaps of people, heaps of tourists, and the sheer size of Walmart.

We found all of the basics we knew the Kidult would need, and had a bit of a look through the fresh food while were there, discussing the various products with her. Then, off to a T-Mobile store to get a phone plan sorted, checked out an outlet or two, and then decided to go to Disney Springs.

We had a lacklustre lunch at Planet Hollywood. While at the Springs, I activated my annual pass, as I'd worked out it just made financial sense to get one, and definitely made sense once I started getting the discounts on offer with it.

I had thought we'd be able to get a bus from Disney Springs to Epcot, as the Kidult needed to meet someone there to give them a parcel, apparently containing Disney pins, not weird contraband. However, the only Disney buses were going to resorts, and they were checking if you had a resort or dining booking before letting you through. Dangit - so we drove to Epcot and happily didn't have to pay USD 36 for parking thanks to my shiny new annual pass. WIN!


The Kidult delivered the pins, then we drove back to our hotel to chill (and be in air con!) and for me to do my last load of laundry for the Kidult for a while, so her sheets and linens were ready to use the next day.


The beds at the accommodation were "Twin XL" - neither a Single nor a Kind Single, a different size, so we knew we'd have to buy them over there. Apparently this size is typically only seen in college dorms.


There was a meetup that evening for DCP parents and CPs moving in the next day, run by the parent group that I found. We went along and learned some new things, and met some other parents and CPs.
New things we learned: Disney employs meteorologists and water management staff to help ensure the parks don't flood during Florida thunderstorms.
We have Walt Disney to thank for modern rubbish bin/trash can design, at least public ones. He wanted the rubbish to not be visible to guests, unlike the common wire open bins of the 1950s, and so the enclosed trash cans with flaps were imagineered.

A former CP was back to do another college program; she was a very personable young lady (how old am I saying this??!! ) and very much looking forward to her second stint, as this time she'd scored her dream role - as a Jungle Cruise skipper. Perfect for her! She was loving the Dad joke vibe, which is great for that role.
The Kidult was peeved at me for dragging her along to this meetup. Oh well.

We had Italian at a local restaurant that we could walk to, Simply Capri. They had some GF options, but sadly the spaghetti and meatballs were not GF, they'd put flour in the meatballs. Very busy night, lots of families (not just DCP families by the look). Our service dropped off and it was hard to get a second drink until our mains were delivered.

This is the Tagliatelle alla Nerano, which I enjoyed.


We didn't bother with dessert, and headed back to the hotel to repack and crash. The Kidult was moving in to her new home the next day, and we were going to go to a Disney hotel for the next 4 nights.

 

[Katie]

Monday, move in day
The day is here! I think we all struggled with jet lag, definitely Mr Katie and I were both reading at 2-4am or so.

The Kidult was excited and woke up early. She managed a call with one Grandma before we went down to brekky.

Mickey waffles an option, alas no GF ones.


The Kidult's checkin time was 8:30am, we had a short drive, but were prepared for lots of traffic. We weren't sure if we'd be able to leave and come back without her with us, so hung around while she went through various processes before getting her room key. It took about an hour.
She then went up to her room while we went to the car to start getting her gear. 2 suitcases, 1 duffel bag, and then the linens, etc, we'd bought the day before.

One of her roommates was sleeping, so we kept quiet moving her gear in. We did a reccy to see what else we'd need to buy - loo paper added to the list!
Then, off to a Big Target for grocery shopping for the first week, and the other essentials (loo paper, containers for freezing extra portions of food, basic sauces, padlock for her locker, etc). We missed a few things, including a toothbrush holder, but managed most of the basics. We saw a few other new CPs shopping at Target.

When we got back, the roommate was awake, and the Kidult's room (two beds in the room) had another set of suitcases in it. We met the one roommate, looked at the name on the luggage tag of the suitcases in her room, and then were summarily kicked out so she could set up her bed and unpack. See ya Mum and Dad! Thanks for paying ...


A Joffrey's coffee truck was there, providing hot and cold coffee for the waiting throngs.


Other pics involve the kidult and more exact clues to her accommodation location (general location is easily findable online), so I won't post them.